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Progress in Identifying
the Genetic Roots of Autism
Wall Street Journal, by Melinda Beck
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Original Article
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Posted By:SoCalGal, 9/25/2012 7:29:22 PM
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| One of the most agonizing questions that parents of children with autism ask is—why? Now, a growing number of genetic tests are providing some answers. Scientists say that roughly 20% of autism cases can be linked to known genetic abnormalities, and many more may be discovered. Pinpointing a genetic explanation can help predict whether siblings are likely to have the disorder—and even point to new, targeted treatments. Last week, for example, researchers reported that an experimental drug, arbaclofen, reduced social withdrawal and challenging behaviors in children and adults with Fragile X syndrome, the single most common genetic cause of autism.
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Reply 1 - Posted by:
rabbit, 9/25/2012 7:36:59 PM (No. 8889920)
Another misleading article, pretending that autism is a genetic illness. The Fragile X Foundation says that 2% - 6% of people with autism also have Fragile X. In other words, Fragile X is a rare cause of autism.
Recent studies have shown that over half the cause of autism is environmental. Even the genetic link is generally only a predisposition - sort of like breast cancer is more likely in some families, but nobody considers breast cancer untreatable because it is 'genetic'.
What is really aggravating is that 80% of the research money in autism goes to genetic research...when less than 50% of the 'problem' is genetic. If they would fund non-genetic research, we just might get answers more quickly.
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Reply 2 - Posted by:
Emerson, 9/25/2012 7:58:04 PM (No. 8889971)
It would be helpful if we knew posters' qualifications so that we could give the proper weight to their opinions.
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Reply 3 - Posted by:
SoCalGal, 9/25/2012 8:03:23 PM (No. 8889980)
Perhaps this will be helpful. Here is the entire article on Fragile X and autism from the National Fragile X Foundation. Numbers and percentages can be misleading when removed from the context in which they were originally presented.
Autism and fragile X syndrome
http://www.fragilex.org/fragile-x-associated-disorders/fragile-x-syndrome/autism-and-fragile-x-syndrome/
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Reply 4 - Posted by:
earlybird, 9/25/2012 8:23:23 PM (No. 8890008)
I read the entire article and did not find it to be at all misleading. There are some positive anecdotes about autistic children; the rest is a fairly balanced report on what they have found out so far about the genetic component and how testing for it could be helpful to the autistic children and their families.
My DIL has spent her adult life working with autistic persons from pre-schoolers to adults. I am sending this on to her.
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Reply 5 - Posted by:
woofwoofwoof, 9/25/2012 9:07:20 PM (No. 8890094)
I hope they find the gene for winning the lottery, and maybe the gene for getting hit on the head.
The thing is, if there is just a single gene it has to do something to work (or not work), and the search would seem much better for that, than for a short stretch of DNA. Cuz we really don't know how to fix genes anyway, and all the genetic source tells you is what protein(s) to replace, then we make replacement proteins or adjuncts, and use those as treatments.
The body is still way beyond our knowledge, it's unfortunately still pretty nearly voodoo to hope for a simple genetic cause and cure.
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Below, you will find ...
Most Recent Articles posted by "SoCalGal"
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Most Active Articles (last 48 hours)
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Most Recent Articles posted by "SoCalGal"
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Mother of the Movement
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New York Times, by NELL IRVIN PAINTER
Original Article
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Posted By: SoCalGal- 3/29/2013 6:27:29 PM
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Beautiful Rosa Parks sits alone in the Montgomery, Ala., city bus she desegregated, an image endlessly replicated, most recently on an American postage stamp issued in February to commemorate Black History Month and what would have been Parks’s 100th birthday.(Snip) President Obama voiced the familiar view that she was “just wanting to get home after a long day at work” and “may not have been planning to make history.” But as Jeanne Theoharis shows in her insightful biography, “The Rebellious Life of Mrs. Rosa Parks,” this perspective obscures Parks’s lifelong activism and “fierce determination.”
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Watch Out, World Bank.
Here Comes the BRIC Bank.
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Associated Press, by Staff and Reuters
Original Article
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Posted By: SoCalGal- 3/27/2013 7:13:37 PM
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Leaders of the five BRICS nations plan to create a development bank in a direct challenge to the World Bank that they accuse of Western bias. The bank would use $50 billion of seed capital shared equally between Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa but would undoubtedly be dominated by China. It would be the first institution of the informal forum started in 2009 amid the economic meltdown to chart a new and more equitable world economic order.
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Store owner cancels
Mark Kelly gun buy
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Politico, by Kevin Robillard
Original Article
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Posted By: SoCalGal- 3/26/2013 12:19:18 PM
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The owner of a gun store in Tucson, Ariz., has canceled Mark Kelly’s purchase of an AR-15 because the gun control advocate doesn’t plan on keeping the assault weapon. Kelly,(Snip)bought the gun earlier this month to show how easy it is to buy an assault weapon. He said he planned on turning the gun over to Tucson police. "While I support and respect Mark Kelly’s 2nd Amendment rights to purchase, possess and use firearms in a safe and responsible manner, his recent statements to the media made it clear that his intent in purchasing the Sig Sauer M400 5.56mm rifle
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Audio: ´Witness 8´ interview
in George Zimmerman case
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Central Florida News 13, by Amanda Evans
Original Article
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Posted By: SoCalGal- 3/26/2013 11:59:28 AM
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SANFORD -- For the first time, we are hearing from the teenager believed to be the last person to talk to Trayvon Martin moments before his deadly confrontation with George Zimmerman. The teen, known only as "Witness 8," is considered to be the prosecution´s key witness, but Zimmerman´s attorneys said she lied during a deposition by the Martin family´s attorney, Benjamin Crump. A new motion filed Monday said the state knew Witness 8, said to be a girlfriend of Trayvon Martin´s from Miami, had been lying, but never came out with it.
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George Zimmerman´s lawyers
file witness list with 130 names
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Orlando Sentinel, by Rene Stutzman
Original Article
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Posted By: SoCalGal- 3/26/2013 11:52:58 AM
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SANFORD - Attorneys for George Zimmerman have filed a new defense witness list, and it includes more than 130 people. Among them: Trayvon Martin´s mother and father, their attorney Benjamin Crump, former Sanford police Chief Bill Lee Jr. and former State Attorney Norm Wolfinger. It also includes Sanford City Manager Norton Bonaparte and several other members of Trayvon´s family, including his step-brother and the Oviedo cousin with whom he´d spent the night the evening before he was fatally shot. Attorneys seldom call all the witnesses they list, still the list placed in the official court file Monday is extraordinary
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Years of video game playing earns
unemployed illegal immigrant
Obama’s ‘deferred action’
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Daily Caller, by Vince Coglianese
Original Article
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Posted By: SoCalGal- 3/26/2013 11:47:19 AM
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An unemployed illegal immigrant who has spent the last few years playing video games reportedly used records of his playing time to apply for and receive President Obama’s “deferred action” status. According to the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel, Jose Muñoz was an out-of-work 25-year-old Mexican immigrant who graduated with honors from his Sheboygan, Wisconsin high school in 2005. Since that time, Muñoz — who was brought to the United States at the age of one — has been out of school and out of work, instead spending time helping his family with household chores and countless hours playing sports
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Shell casings from Texas gunfight
match those at Colorado slaying
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Los Angeles Times, by Molly Hennessy-Fiske and Jenny Deam
Original Article
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Posted By: SoCalGal- 3/23/2013 9:11:05 PM
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Investigators have matched the brand and caliber of shell casings from a Colorado parolee´s gunfight with north Texas authorities to those found at the home of Colorado´s prisons chief, who was killed earlier this week.(Snip)Hornady 9-millimeter casings were found at the Texas scene, the same type found at the home of Colorado prisons chief Tom Clements, according to an application for a warrant to search the car filed by officials in Wise County, Texas. Clements, 58, was shot on Tuesday when he answered the front door of his home north of Colorado Springs.
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Marine shooter identified
in Quantico killings
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Washington Times [DC], by Kristina Wong
Original Article
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Posted By: SoCalGal- 3/23/2013 8:19:23 PM
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Marine Sergeant Eusebrio Lopez, 25, shot and killed two fellow Marines before turning the gun on himself last Thursday evening at the base they were stationed at in Quantico, Virginia. The two victims included Marine Lance Corporal Sara Castro-Mata, 19, from Oakley, California and 23-year-old Corporal Jacob Wooley from Guntown, Mississippi. All three were staff at the Officer Candidate School, where they trained new Marine officers. (Snip)Investigators are still trying to figure out the motive behind the incident, and a “love triangle” scenario is only speculative at this time, according to Marine Corps officials. Sgt. Lopez worked as an instructor
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Critics of State Bill Say
It Would Restrict Abortions
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New York Times, by Becca Aronson
Original Article
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Posted By: SoCalGal- 3/23/2013 8:15:12 PM
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A bill advancing through the Texas Legislature could drastically decrease the number of legal abortion facilities in the state. Supporters of Senate Bill 537, which would increase regulations for abortion facilities, say it will improve women’s safety. But abortion rights advocates say that the bill is a thinly veiled effort to close 37 of the state’s 42 abortion facilities, and that it would reduce women’s access to legal abortion. “I understand the suspicion, but this really is about improving health care for women getting abortions,” said the bill’s author, State Senator Bob Deuell, a Republican
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Man in Texas shootout, possibly
linked to Colo. prison chief’s
death, ID’d as paroled inmate
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Associated Press, by Staff
Original Article
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Posted By: SoCalGal- 3/21/2013 9:25:50 PM
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DECATUR, Texas — A man who led Texas authorities on a 100 mph car chase that ended in a shootout Thursday and may be linked to the slaying of Colorado’s state prison chief is a paroled prison inmate, officials said. The Denver Post reported that the man is 28-year-old Evan Spencer Ebel. A federal law enforcement official confirmed that identity to The Associated Press.(Snip)Ebel was driving a Cadillac in Texas that matched the description of the vehicle seen leaving the home of prisons chief Clements around the time he was shot Tuesday night.
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Chicago to shutter
dozens of schools
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CNN, by Dana Ford & Katherine Wojtecki
Original Article
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Posted By: SoCalGal- 3/21/2013 8:59:22 PM
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Chicago--Chicago school officials said Thursday that they plan to close dozens of schools in a bid to improve education and tackle a $1 billion deficit. The move would shutter 61 school buildings, including 53 underused schools and one program. The cut represents roughly 10% of all elementary school facilities in Chicago Public Schools, the country´s third-largest school district. "Every child in every neighborhood in Chicago deserves access to a high-quality education that prepares them to succeed in life, but for too long children in certain parts of Chicago have been cheated out of the resources they
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Saturday mail delivery
should stay - U.S.
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CNN Money, by Jennifer Liberto
Original Article
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Posted By: SoCalGal- 3/21/2013 8:30:08 PM
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Washington - The U.S. Postal Service must deliver the mail six days a week, said Congress´ watchdog arm in a Thursday legal opinion. The legal opinion from the nonpartisan agency throws new questions on the Postmaster General Patrick Donahoe´s plans to stop delivering first-class mail, but keep delivering packages and express mail on Saturdays. The U.S. Government Accountability Office stopped short of saying the U.S. Postal Service´s August plan to end most Saturday mail service violates current law. The U.S. Postal Service says it's not ending six-day delivery, only changing it,
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Most Active Articles (last 48 hours)
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Ben Carson steps down as
Hopkins commencement speaker
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Baltimore Sun, by Andrea K. Walker
Original Article
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Posted By: toledo- 4/11/2013 7:11:23 AM
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Neurosurgeon Dr. Ben Carson stepped down Wednesday as commencement speaker at the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine after complaints from students about controversial comments concerning same-sex marriage. The withdrawal came less than a week after medical school Dean Paul B. Rothman chastised Carson for his comments and met with graduating students concerned that the famed physician was an inappropriate commencement speaker.
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Obamacare architect Rockefeller:
It´s ´beyond comprehension´
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Washington Examiner, by Paul Bedard
Original Article
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Posted By: Drive- 4/10/2013 7:17:19 AM
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West Virginia Democratic Sen. Jay Rockefeller, one of the towering architects of Obamacare, on Tuesday openly criticized program managers for not moving quickly enough to build the system, warning that if it gets off to a bumpy start it will just get worse. Decrying the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act as way too complex, he warned the acting Medicare director that Obamacare is "so complicated and if it isn´t done right the first time, it will just simply get worse."
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Obama enjoys ´sequester soul concert´
at White House amid massive budget
cuts and government worker furloughs
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Business Insider, by Staff
Original Article
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Posted By: Attercliffe- 4/10/2013 4:24:28 AM
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The sequester may have many across the country singing the blues, but for President Obama, it was all about Memphis Soul. Even with the threat of furloughs and government cuts sparked by the sequester, Obama took the time to enjoy a star-studded concert at the White House tonight. The White House celebration of Memphis Soul music in the East Room--which included special guest appearances by Queen Latifah and Justin Timberlake--is likely to rile Obama´s Republican foes. Some conservatives have called on Obama to give up golf, especially since popular public tours of the White House have been canceled because of
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Obama: Put Nation´s 4-Year-Olds
in ‘Public Preschool;´ Will
Save on ‘Child-Care Costs´
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Cybercast News Service, by Terence P. Jeffrey
Original Article
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Posted By: KarenJ1- 4/10/2013 1:18:38 PM
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In the message he issued along with his budget proposal on Wednesday morning, President Barack Obama said he wants to see 4-year-old children in the United States enrolled in public schools. Obama said America needs to start enrolling 4-year-olds to make sure the children are “better prepared for the demands of the global economy” and to help parents save on "child-care costs." After saying the United States needs to “equip our citizens with the skills and training” to fill jobs in manufacturing, energy and infrastructure, Obama said, “And that has to start at the earliest possible age.”
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Daughter of Obama´s former
pastor charged with fraud
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Reuters, by Mary Wisniewski
Original Article
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Posted By: mitzi- 4/11/2013 1:11:19 AM
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The daughter of President Barack Obama´s controversial former pastor was indicted on Wednesday on charges of money laundering and lying to federal authorities, a Justice Department spokeswoman said. Jeri L. Wright, 47, the daughter of Jeremiah Wright, was accused of participating in a fraud scheme led by a former suburban police chief and the chief´s husband that involved a $1.25 million state grant, according to the Attorney´s office for the Central District of Illinois in Springfield. Wright, of the Chicago suburb of Hazel Crest, was charged with two counts of money
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Obama´s Army Outmaneuvered by the NRA
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NationalJournal, by Beth Rinehard
Original Article
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Posted By: FlyRight- 4/10/2013 7:18:37 AM
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Although the first votes on gun -control legislation have yet to be cast, by some measures the National Rifle Association has already won. Obama’s ambitious plans to ban assault weapons and limit magazine capacities are off the table, while the NRA suggested it could support the most likely outcome -- expanded background checks -- as recently as 1999. The NRA claims that the president’s efforts have triggered a fundraising surge and boosted its membership from 4 million to nearly 5 million.
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Senate votes 68-31 to move
forward with gun control measure
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The Hill [Washington DC], by Jonathan Easley & Ramsey Cox
Original Article
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Posted By: JoniTx- 4/11/2013 12:23:49 PM
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The Senate voted to move forward on gun control Thursday, clearing the first of what is expected to be many 60-vote hurdles for the legislation. (Snip) Sixteen Republicans voted in favor of the motion, while two Democrats — both from states President Obama lost in the 2012 election — voted against it. The two Democrats were Sens. Mark Begich (Alaska) and Mark Pryor (Ark.), both of whom face reelection next year.The 16 Republicans who voted to proceed were
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End this bizarre fantasy
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New York Post, by Andrea Peyser
Original Article
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Posted By: StormCnter- 4/11/2013 5:10:54 AM
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Is Anthony Weiner completely delusional? Or is he out of his flipping, sex-crazed gourd? Whatever big-busted fantasies crawl around the ex-congressman’s delirious noggin, la Weiner made his next goal as clear as the skin of the wholesome college students he craved: He relishes being Mayor Weiner. Please, shut up this clown. These days, the genitally obsessed Weiner has nothing much to do, except sit in his lavish Manhattan apartment and — the inhumanity! — change the poopy diapers of his 16-month-old son, Jordan. Worse, Weiner is living under a kind of house arrest, sentenced to take extreme grief
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Pat Smith and 700 Special Ops
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American Spectator, by Jeffrey Lord
Original Article
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Posted By: StormCnter- 4/11/2013 6:13:54 AM
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Seven hundred Military Special Operations professionals. And one insistent and very angry Mom. This is becoming a deadly combination for the political game players in the Obama Administration. Sean Smith, the young State Department computer wizard who was brutally murdered that September night in Benghazi, was Pat Smith’s only child. Let’s say that again. Sean Smith was Mrs. Smith’s only child. To listen to her recent radio interview with another Sean… Sean Hannity… is to have the heart break.
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4 annoying ways climate change
will make your life a bummer
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The Week, by Chris Gayomali
Original Article
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Posted By: NorthernDog- 4/10/2013 7:30:26 PM
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Within the next few decades, carbon emissions could cause global temperatures to rise between 4 and 11 degrees Fahrenheit, melting ice caps and causing sea levels to rise. The price of crops like coffee and chocolate will skyrocket, and countless cuddly animals around the globe could be wiped out. And yet, a lot of people find it hard to really care about climate change. But don´t be fooled: Climate change will affect you. Here´s a brief sampling of ways that warmer temperatures will suck the fun out of your life: 1. Your flights will be more turbulent
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AG sues florist who refused
flowers to gay wedding
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Seattle Post-Intelligencer [WA], by Joel Connelly
Original Article
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Posted By: KarenJ1- 4/10/2013 2:28:46 PM
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State Attorney General Bob Ferguson on Tuesday filed a consumer protection lawsuit against Arlene’s Flowers & Gifts, a Richland florist that refused to supply flowers to the same-sex marriage of a longtime customer. Ferguson said he sent a March 28 letter to owner Barronelle Stutzman asking her to reconsider and supply flowers to customer Robert Ingersoll. Through an attorney, Stutzman declined to change her position.“As Attorney General, it is my job to enforce the laws of the state of Washington,” said Ferguson. “Under the Consumer Protection Act, it is unlawful to discriminate
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